Unashamed with the Robertson Family - Ep 911 | Missy’s Grim Day in Court, Phil’s Unofficial Driver’s Ed Class & the Secret Life of Mia

Episode Date: June 26, 2024

Missy recounts the awful day she and Cole spent in a strict judge’s traffic court. Years later, she and Jase would learn that Mia had struck up an unlikely friendship with that same judge on her own. Phil officially gets a chauffeur for his Sunday morning drive, even though he was the unauthorized driver’s ed teacher for his boys when they were teens. The guys and Missy discuss the beauty and sacrifice of adoption and suffering for the sake of love. In this episode: Ephesians 3, verse 13 -- Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I am unashamed. What about you? Welcome back to Unashame. I'm giddy in the moment because my favorite, one of my favorite, I should say one of my favorite, because Lisa comes on here too. One of my favorite guests on the podcast is Missy. And it's true Missy. And mainly because we love hearing your perspective and it makes Jay's uncomfortable. It's because my perspective is usually very different from his. in the same exact story and circumstance. So that makes my day. It takes me back to my youth. Can I defend myself here?

Are we just going to act like I'm not in the room? We're just going to talk about you. My interpretation of that, babe, is that we're the evidence that there is a God. Okay. And I love that what you're wearing, you look like the most beautiful flower in the world. Well, thank you, babe. So this is what intrigues me about. So, Missy, I get a text.

I'm on the way out here. No, I was actually here because I got a little bit early because I brought mom some food and was checking on her. Are we doing this again? Oh, yeah. And because I got to get Missy's tag on it now. I was so excited she was coming after. So I was at Mom and Dad's house and this text came in, and I looked up at Mom and Dad and said, oh, boy, we're in for quite the doozy today.

Jay says, I'll be late. I got pulled over by the police. And then that was it. And of course, I didn't know what that meant. And it was weird because I thought, well, you know, is he in the moment of that? Is he had a wreck? You know, so I had a lot of questions about it. And, of course, the last podcast, he went through the whole scenario.

Which took over 20 minutes for me to actually have the podcast. I knew that was going to happen. I did too. Because he called me and told me. I was like, this is what's about to be talked about on the podcast. Or the record, I asked the police officer if he had a problem with me sharing this on the podcast. And he said, tell it to the world. He said, tell it to the world.

But then I said, I think this is going to make you look back. I did say that to him. Did he care? Nope, no. That was evident. He said, I'm just doing my job. Early on, he had already decided he was going to give this ticket. That was the thing I could.

Well, good, because of all the crime in Monroe, which Monroe has very high crime. Let's take time out to give someone a seatbelt violation ticket. That was exactly my take. is there not enough going on? Oh, there's enough going on. Well, and she means because I had my seatbelt on, but just not properly. Yet, you get a severe, I would call it, interpretation of the law and actually ticket somebody compared to so many, I see every time I drive through town, especially coming out here, I see multiple violations that are obvious and dangerous. It's like, where is the police officer for that?

Having said that, I'm thankful that he, you know, did what he thought was right and no one's above the law. That's right. And I was just sharing it. And I thought you were not ugly about him at all. I mean, and we're obviously supportive. Well, when I got, I got the same exact text. And I really thought, I think he sent that to me. He's probably wanting to send that to Al to let him know he's going to be late.

I sent it. I sent it to Al and our producer. Send it all. Yeah. And then I copied it. While he's saying, get back. That's what got me. Like the guy's like, get back here and Jay said, hang on.

I'm texting everybody telling him on her be late. I was like, who does that? But I honestly thought, oh, this is going to be a story because he's going to talk his way out of this. He talks his way out of everything. That's what he's done. His whole entire life, he just talks his way out of a ticket. Is that a compliment? It's just a fact.

I can't do that. I just bow my head. So sorry. Yes, sir. Hands me the ticket. But somehow you can spend. bend the stories and you can charm and you get out of the craziest stuff. So I'm really surprised that this didn't. He actually turned to the Bible. I know. That didn't work either.

Now that y'all brought this up, well, you know where I messed up. I went to Hebrews. I should have went to Ephesian. Because Hebrew, he got bogged down in the earthly tabernacle. Don't think he was paying attention. Sins that were accidental and unintentional. The word is unintentional sense, which is what happened with me breaking this law. Well, this needs to be your opening for your sermon in a couple of weeks. I'm preaching on this, and I was struggling with how to make this relatable. Oh, it was a gift. This was a gift.

Thank you, Lord. I had to pay. When you preach this, then you need to tell everybody when you're preaching, I've already preached this sermon. You know what I've already had one, and he did not respond to this. I just had an epiphany. It all started when I, I spoke at that event last Saturday, and I gave that kid $20 because I didn't have anything

else in my bag that I felt comfortable giving because it was my Bible and the duck calls that I actually used. But he was carrying his Bible. I think I told this story. He was 19, and I thought, I need to. I've asked for more hats to be sensitive. I need to give him something, and I didn't want to give him my actual hat because I had to continue speaking.

I don't want my hair in my face. I gave him $20. So now I'm seeing a trend. When I speak, I must pay a certain amount of money for illustrations. So we just added a zero here because even though he said it was going to be $25 or $30 ticket, I will guarantee it. It's going to be more than that. It'll be $200 and something. Yeah, you've got to pay those score costs.

It wasn't about the money, though. To your credit, he asked Dad and I, did we know that was the law and we did not? Which, babe. You found it fascinating. I didn't know that was a lot. Let me ask you all the question. Did you take driver's ed? No.

Thank you. Bill, did you take driver's ed? Okay. So I did and I knew that that was aided- I did take driver's ed, but dad was my driver's ed instructor. And he at that time was anti-seat-bell. We knew there were some somewhere in the vehicle, but they were stuck down where you could never pull them out again.

I didn't have an extra strap in my truck. No. Well, babe, we talked about that. My first two vehicles did not have a shoulder strap. What are the people doing that are driving those types of vehicles today? That was a good question. That's what I was wondering about. And look, you know what I should have said?

The strap was still covering my torso. Yeah, I think it would still restrain you. It doesn't matter. So this is all about the safety of my left shoulder. Think about it. I got a ticket based on the safety of my left shoulder, which I have a torn labrum anyway. The thing is broken. It is numbing pain.

I would think that anything that would happen to my shoulder in the wreck. You should be able to make that call, right? Could possibly be an improvement. This is your argument. This should be your argument. We didn't even get into that part of the argument. You know, you could plead not guilty and go to court and do this and not pay the ticket. I was going to do this one time.

Let's do it to the, should I plead not guilty? You can't go in and do it. You can't go in and do it. You can. And so, because I just, this just happened to Orleans. We were down there for Lisa's surgery. And Pete and Sedan and our friends were with us. And his wife got a ticket on her vehicle. And she was like, and the ticket says she was parked up on the sidewalk, but she wasn't.

And so she took pictures of everything, which was really pretty smart to her. And so she comes back and she's complaining because she's, you know, they just leave it. It was not like you couldn't even talk to a person. And she's grabbing and complaining. And she's, look at this picture. And then there's another car, just like hers, three cars up that is on the sidewalk. And it looked just like hers. So I don't know if it was a mistaken identity or something happened. But anyway, I'm like, well, how much does it cause? She said, 40 bucks. And I said, well, you know, 40 bucks. What are you going to do? Go down and fight it. And she said, well, I would have had the time. Where a husband comes in, she tells him, he's hot. And he says, give me that ticket. So he goes, he

finds out where he has to go. He goes down there. It takes him two hours, goes into this DA's office, and he starts showing the guy. So he's like, no, no, no, that's a ticket. So he starts showing in the pictures. And then the guy's like, well, yeah, I think you're right. But, you know, and he kind of hem haws around. And then finally he says, no, you're right. And he didn't do it. So the guy took two and a half hours to get out of it. But I was like, Pete, it was 40 bucks. You know what? Was it worth that? He was like, it's the principal. Well, that's right. The only other time I got pulled over that I got a ticket, initially got a ticket, was they said I evaded a red light.

It was back when we did fantasy baseball. I know this, you think, what does this have to do? Babe, I don't think you should go down this road. I'm telling this story. I'm going to disagree with you on this. I was by myself. Yes, I know. I know.

And you told me what you did when you got home because we were very, you know. young in our marriage. Yeah, and I didn't have any money. But I was, back then we used to read newspapers. So the internet hadn't really taken off or it hadn't come to me yet. So I wanted to check the baseball box scores to see if I had won my fantasy baseball thing. So I took a right and pulled into a gas station. I looked over at the newspaper and they were out.

So then I went on. Well, a cop pulled me up. Said, I'm going to give you a ticket. You pulled through private property and evaded a red light. And the ticket said, evading a red light. You know how people cut through? And I said, no, misunderstanding. Back to the Scotty Shepard did.

We have a miscommunication. I was going to get a newspaper, but you'll see over there that if we drive back over there, there's no newspapers there. I'm in fantasy baseball. I went through the whole thing. So he gives me the ticket. But when I called in, he said, no, all you have to do is call in. I called in.

I said, I will pay this ticket under one condition. I did not evade that red light, and I will not pay this ticket for that. You can change it to I trespassed through, okay, I can see a point there. And they said, well, we've decided not to make you pay the ticket. They threw the ticket out. Oh, so they threw it out on me. They threw it out. I didn't pay it.

But I was willing to say that I did that. But I explained why I did that. If you still want to give me a ticket, I'll pay it. But I was not evading that red light. I think this story has changed in the last 30 years. I'm just saying. You think it's blossomed into this. I think it's changed.

But if you believe it, that's the case. Mr. Smith goes to Washington's situation here. This doesn't sound convinced. You kind of did that a lot. You didn't like stopping at red lights. Babe, I'm not saying that I've never evaded a red light. In this one situation, he looked at the paper machine. Yeah. In this one instance, that was not my intent.

Other times where I didn't get pulled over, I should have gotten a ticket. But it kind of balances out. It did. And I was willing to pay, but I said, we must change that because that's a lie. In this one instant, that was not my intent. Because I had a ball uniform and I tried to explain. explain to him, this is where I'm headed. And so it made sense from a map standpoint without getting into the details.

Because it's like, I got a ball uniform on it. Let's do, Google it. You know, we didn't have Google back then. But still, I fought one. I fought one time and one. I was a teenager and he gave me a ticket for, he said I was following the vehicle in front of me too close. You were supposed to be a car length back.

No, I remember that, but he misspelled too. He misspelled. The ticket said, he didn't. put T-O-O, he put T-O. When I read the ticket, I said, well, it says following to close. Oh, for a grammar Nazi that would have me. Somebody not. I don't even know what does it mean following to close.

No, you have to write that correctly. Somewhere under the family, I got the information last Sunday that I've been driving to for about 30, almost 40. years, I go get in my rig, Chuck, a better truck, not an old truck. You've been driving it for 50 years, though. Yeah. After 50 years. Do the church building, you mean? Yeah.

I got word. You no longer will be driving your rig to church. You will have someone pick you up. And if anybody gets stuck with an improperly looking, it's about the only thing they get for me. I said, Is it because I'll get tickets? No, no tickets have been issued to you ever. Well, they should do a movie about this and call it

Driving Mr. Phil. Now all the driving mistakes that can happen, I'm just sitting there looking out the window every once in a while, pull up, you know, I've got people paid to keep somebody from shooting me. they can. I think it's a good thing, Phil. I've said on record before, I think that when every person reaches the age of 70, they should have a driver.

You actually said 60, but the closer you getting to that, I see that it's going to I said 60. I did say 60, but I've had such a pushback that I've moved the age. I moved the age to 70. I'm a year and a half from 70, from 80. 80, there you go. 80 you say it may be time somebody else. Because you are nearing overtime.

Moses said in Psalm 90, Dad, that you get 70 years, 80 if you have the strength, which you've had the strength. It was a little embarrassing to say, okay, they finally said, made it personal. Well, they do it, Phil, because when you're driving down the interstate and you see a lot of cars backed up, and you're like, what is the problem? and there'll be a car in the left-hand lane, in what's called the passing lane. And I'm not going to say anybody in our family

has an extreme problem with it. Or sitting at this table. But they are sitting at this table. And they do have a beard. They'll get in the passing lane and drive two miles an hour under the speed limit because they were taught in church, you must keep the letter of the law.

So they're driving 68 in the passing lane justifying it saying, I'm good with God. I'm not breaking any laws. I'm not breaking any laws. But that actually is a breaking of the law. You only use that lane to pass. So by the time you clear the traffic, which is delayed your trip 10 or 15 minutes, when you look at that person, because everyone must make eye contact, which is also another

dangerous situation, I must take my eyes off the road and say, who caused this? And every time it is someone well up in years. And I used to say, so let's do 60, I heard the crowd because a lot of people like, hey, I'm 64 years old. I drive 75 in the passing lane and then move over and get back to 70. So I was like, okay, let's make it 70 because that is the general speed limit. That way it would be easy to keep up with when you're on interstate. And when you see the sign that says 70, you must have a shot. chauffeur. When I need, I need to tell this story because I feel very strongly that when you as a teenager, when your child's a

teenager, gets their first ticket, which most of them will get a ticket when they're a teen, and you have to go to driving court, everybody needs to go to driving court and just watch it. Like take your 14 or 15 year old before they get their license and go sit at driving court and watch it. Because it's not even a driving court. It's just municipal court, but with driving violations that are in there. I had to take Cole when he got, he didn't get a ticket for speeding, but he got a ticket. He rear-ended somebody on the interstate, and they all had wrecks, and it was just boom, boom, boom. So he got a ticket for following too close. And he went.

Not following to close. Following to close. So we go in there, you know, it's the security. It's put everything. You know, you can't be on your phone. it is like you are in, it's like you're already in jail, but you're in school.

I mean, the sheriffs, the West Monroe Police Department, whoever is there, they're like, hey, sit back, sit back. It's like you're in church

and you can't talk, you can't talk, you can't be on your phone. You can't even lean up and put your elbows on your knees. Nothing like that. And I mean, it was like,

oh my goodness, like it's like, you know, was it Seinfeld? Soup. Soup. Yeah, soup nights. It's like,

don't do not. speak out of turn, do not turn and look at people, just keep your eyes forward and don't cause attention. And then at one point, they brought in inmates from Washtop Parish Correctional Facility, all in chains, all matching jumpsuits, lined them all up on the front row, had them sitting down. I mean, it's surreal to a teenager. It's surreal to me, to a teenager. And I was like, this is intense. Don't let them see you talk, you know. You're like throwing your voice over there. we're Robertson, so they're doing it kind of in alphabetical order. So it's taken a while for us.

We're seeing all these things. Domestic violence, attempted murder. It is a lot of things. We finally were watching, I'm watching to say like, how do you get up? How do you walk? Where do you go? Like, I don't want to do anything wrong. And the judge is firm, but, I mean, he is consistent. And so we get up there and we walk down the aisle in the middle of everybody. It's like, Say your name. Call Robertson. He looked, are you mom? Yes, sir?

Said, hmm, see you're falling too close. Yes, sir? He looked, all of the people that had been in there, riffraff, a lot of riffraff in there. Cole's clean cut, you know, he's in high school. And he looks at me and he says, well, he looks at Cole and says, what kind of grades do you make? Cole said, straight A's. He looked at me. Is that right, Mom?

Yes, sir. And he said, looked at me and he said, does he give you any trouble? And I kind of grin and I said, absolutely none. And he kind of grinned and he said, okay, go pay your fine, free to go. It's like, we shuffled out.

It's like, everybody needs to go through. that. I mean, Cole was nervous, I was nervous, you know. That was the most intense conversation. Okay, well, here's the funny part. About a few weeks ago, I'm at the corner gas station getting a sandwich, like the little sandwiches at Daily Press. So I'm sitting there and I see this judge, Judge Norris, he's been around forever. And his wife, they're sitting there. And I honestly, I've seen him around town. I've been in his courtroom. I've never met him. So I lived over.

The judge Norris was? When I went to court. Oh, my goodness. Well, I wasn't in the courtroom then. Yeah. But I said, I leaned over and I said, hey, how are y'all doing? And they looked at me and recognized me. And I said, I don't think we've ever formally met, but I've been in your courtroom a couple of times.

And his wife kind of went, oh, I said, well, not for me from my sons. You know, they've both been in your court, you know, for traffic violations. And then Judge Norris said this. He said, actually, he said, I've become pretty good buds. He said, I've become pretty good buds with your daughter. And I said, my daughter. I said, she's never been in your courtroom. How do you know her?

You think. I know. I'm like, wait a minute. Because she had never gotten a ticket. Well, I haven't heard this story. I don't think. So I think I told you. He said, oh, yeah.

He said, we used to meet up at lunch. She would go to Corner Coffee House during her senior year when she was doing high school online. He said, and I would go over there, you know, for my lunch break. And he said, we just hit it off. We would just sit there and talk and chat, you know, for hours, multiple days a week. I'm like, my daughter is good friends with Judge Norris. And she's never even been in this. And she's never mentioned it to y'all. Never told me, but it is classic Mia. I was not surprised. I just thought it was funny. No, she is a social butterfly. Oh, she's great. We've had multiple. occasions where a random name will come up. She's like, yeah, I'm friends with them. And I'm like,

how? How did that happen? Did you tell him the story about you and Cole that time? Oh, yes, because I said, you should go. Everyone should go. I'm serious. You should go and take your child and sit in something like that. A scared straight. Yes, it is. Yes, it is. Cole's never run into the back of anybody again. Nope, he is not. So speaking of Cole, I want you to give an update because I know you've kind of been, Jay's told the story about the tornado, but I wanted to hear it from your perspective of like the day that went down because y'all were like intermittent trying to have a conversation.

So what that was like and then also kind of how things are, what's been the latest on that. So, yeah, so that was six weeks ago on a Wednesday, six weeks ago today, six weeks ago today and didn't, you know, nothing was really going on. Mia was actually home before camp started. and put the food in the oven, put on the timer, you know, at home in West Monroe, and set, the timer was set to eat at 5.50. So just keep that in mind when I tell you the story. And so I called Jace and Mia in.

They took a couple minutes for them to, you know, Mia to come downstairs and grab their plate. And Jace prayed for the meal. We always do that and we always sit at the tables. It's just something we always do. I didn't have my phone on me. So about 35 or 40 minutes later, we finished eating, cleaned up, all that. And I go check my phone. And it's the previous owner of our farm in Tennessee.

And we've been in communication since we bought the farm a few years ago. And she said, just checking on you. My sister said the tornado went really close to the farmhouse. And I thought, huh, and that was like 45 minutes before. So I was like, that's crazy. So I called Cole just to see, you know, if it went by there. And he said, hello. I was like, hey, Elena just, you know, texted me and said there was a tornado close.

And he went, we took a direct hit. I said, was there any damage? And this is what Cole said. Yeah, a tree fell on our house and one of our windows is broken. That was his answer. I was like, oh my goodness. I mean, I thought that's terrible, you know, I have to fix that window, you know. You're going to imagine that tree.

Like a little elm tree falls and breaks a window. I mean, we have a lot of trees. And so I thought, well, we, that's really good outcome, you know, for that to happen. So that tornado must have been pretty close. But he also never said he was there when it happened. No, no. Actually, he doesn't get home until 6.30 because he works in downtown Nashville, and it takes a while to get home.

So I was really surprised that he was there when he was home early, which is not, that's unusual. So we were talking back and forth. That's the extent of the information that I got, basically. We lost the signal. And so, oh, and the electricity is out. So I'm like, oh, my goodness, you're going to. going to have to like go into town probably or maybe it'll come back on. We're still have no

idea the extent. So we call Reed and let him know. And he's like, yeah, I'll go down there and check on him in a little while. They're eating dinner. It was just nobody was really making a big deal about it. And later on, he, Reed said, I'm going to, he called us from the driveway of our farm. And our driveway is probably a quarter of a mile long. And you can't see. our house from the road. Well, you can now, but you couldn't before. Yeah. So he said when he got to our neighborhood, it's just a country. It's not really a neighborhood, but it's in the country. So when he got to the fire station, that's about a mile from our house, he said, there's a thousand people there. There were police cars and fire trucks and just triage people. And so he said, it was crazy.

And we had to talk our way through. And then because the tree damage was. so bad on the roads, they had to actually stop at some point and walk the rest of the way. And it was dark at this point. And took their flashlights and he took a big guy, big friend of his, you know, with him. And they were having to climb over a quarter of a miles worth of trees, big trees, just to get to our house. And that's when Reed called. And Reed, you know, he's our more emotional kid.

Yeah. Even though he's a man now. But I mean, growing up, he was emotional. and he just, I could hear the emotion in his voice, and he started kind of panicking because he had eyes on what was actually had happened. And he said, Mom, I got to get to Cole. I don't know that he's okay. I don't know that he's okay. How could he have survived this?

And it wasn't registering to me. I was like, well, I've talked to him. He's fine. That's all I know, Reed. Cole is fine. I've talked to him and he is fine. He said, I don't know how it could. I don't know how he could be fine, Mom.

I don't know how. I don't know how. Because he was looking at the war zone damage. They were having to physically climb over these huge oak and pine trees that had fallen all over. He said, it's a war zone. And our driveway is very steep down into a valley and then straight back up, almost 45 degree angle. So that was the scariest part for me. Then I could hear them talking in the background.

He said, there's no tree down. I mean, he said there's no tree standing. All the trees are down. And I thought, okay, Cole said one tree has fallen. Reed said every tree is down. It's probably somewhere in the middle here with the... I will add that Reed through his life has been known to embellish a story. The personalities of these kids.

I don't know where he gets that from. Where would he have gotten that from? But honestly, when we saw it, I mean, it was more than the line of Reed being correct. It was closer to Reed. Yeah. But it makes you also realize there was a couple of factors. just because it sounds confusing, but Cole was kind of in shock. He was totally in shock we realized.

And he was in the one little bitty spot, thank the Lord, that actually survived this. He was in the bathtub in the one area of our property that had the least amount of damage. He said that it was the next day that I got the story from him. It took him, you know, 18 hours to tell what really happened. And he said he was driving home from work. His neighbor was behind him, actually, and he pulled into our driveway. And the neighbor kept going, but the neighbor texted or called him and said, hey, I just saw you pulling your driveway.

There's a storm coming just to let you know. Cole was like, okay, thanks. You know, we've had storms before. And he pulled all the way down, all the way up our driveway, and he saw one of our baby goats out. And he was like, that stupid goat, I got to go chase that goat down and put him back in the pen. he got out. And so he pulled in our carport, which is closest to the driveway, and he got out, walked around the car the other way to go see if he could get that goat. And he heard something, he said. And when he looked back towards the house, he said, I did not realize it at the time,

but now I know I was looking at the tornado. So we live on the top of a hill. He was driving up one side and the tornado was coming up over the other. And he looked at that tornado. He said, the trees were going in all directions. It wasn't just like wind was blowing one way. And he realized, he said he looked at the safe room, which is on the other side of the house. He was like, I got to get there. And in a split second, he realized he can't. And he turned to run and the wind knocked him down.

So he was on the ground. And he got back up and just ran into the screened-in porch, which is right there on that side, ran into the house. He said, I looked in the bathroom. The shower curtain was open. and I jumped head first in there and covered my head and heard everything crashing around me. Wow. So scary. He was very fortunate.

Well, so I started pulling, which is the day after the tornado happened, I started going on Twitter because that's where you get all of this information from, all these videos that people are posting. And there was a woman on the highway that's behind our property that had her dash cam on. And she had pulled over because it was in front of her. So she had pulled over on the side of the road and with her dash cam followed the tornado across the road and as it went up the backside of our hill. And when she was like, there it goes. And I looked at the clock on her dash cam and it said 5.52 p.m. Jace was praying over our food and set a specific prayer over the safety of our family as it was crashing over our house.

Wow. Yeah, that was, when that hit us, we kind of lost it. Yeah, that's powerful. Our child was, I mean, look. And unaware of what was going on. I just. With so many tragedies, even in our own family and Brighton's family, you know, you, you know, you don't want to say, well, God will protect us because he loves us. But he showed mercy on call that day, and he showed mercy on our family.

And we are forever grateful for that. There actually didn't, there was at least one, I think, that lost their life somewhere. There was one right across the street from us who died. Obviously, a tough situation for them. Well, we're joining that and that God bless you guys with that, obviously. So what about the grandchildren? They're doing fantastic. All that's all good.

Y'all went on the way. Yep, we heard that. So we've talked about that before, you know, which is, I know y'all have been talking about suffering and all of that. But I just think, you know, we all have suffering. in the world, which, you know, we just celebrated Brighton's nephew's birthday this past weekend. He's one that passed away in the car crash last year. Yeah. And they did a memorial tournament for him and raised thousands of dollars.

It was huge. Reed came in town saying the national anthem. It was beautiful. It was a great thing. But, you know, I think about the silver linings to all of that. And one of those is Brighton's due date being the day that her niece and nephew died. Wow. And so we don't know when the baby's coming for sure.

Sure. But it's something that's beautiful to look forward to for her family and a bright light, bright hope. But the babies are doing fantastic. They are officially the cutest grandbabies in the entire world. I'm just going to say, every time I look at them like, nope, there's nobody cuter than you. Sorry. Sorry to everyone else out there.

But even though I realize all grandparents think that, I know that of mine. And what's funny is thousands of people listen to say, yeah, that's exactly that's right. That's right. Everything they do is adorable. Everything they do is so cute and precious and sweet. But, man, am I impressed with my kids as parents? Read and Brighton, I mean, they hit it out of the park every single day. It's amazing to watch them as parents.

I mean, I am so well pleased with them with that. Yeah, and I always say that's so important to, when you raise your kids, you're hoping that you'll be able to see that instill generation. It's such a blessing to be able to watch that. It's beautiful. And you get to just be a support system. Yes, yes, yes. We're going to have Jeff and Jess on a few podcasts coming in the future,

because they just brought this book, and we'll talk about it more in particular when they're here. But since you are a brave book author, I wanted to get your take on it because I thought it was really interesting. And I read it last night because they had left a copy of the house. I thought it was really good. It's really good. About adoption. And actually their character,

Valor is the same character that's in mine. So in the Brave Book sagas, there's lots of different characters and different family units and different, you know, there's good guys and bad guys. And it's all about, you know, us keeping our rights as Americans, but also our godly values and teaching them to our families.

And so for them to have the same little boy character, Valor, that's in my book, and it's actually about his adoption. And so in my book, it talks about how Valor is unconditionally love and forgiven. His parents are lions. He's a tiger. Obviously, he was adopted, and there's a story before that. Well, now in Jeff and Jessica's book, two years later, it comes out, they get to tell about how the mom and dad, Arthur and Fiona, go back and tell Valor about his adoption story. And so,

which is, of course, very personal for Jeff and Jessica as well with Gus. So it's done really, really well. Oh, so too. We had a lot of discussions about it,

you know, so about which way to go. And Jessica had some concerns because, and she'll be able to tell you, tell you this too, but, you know, she's like,

I respect so much these parents who give their children up because they know that they cannot do it. And this is what's best for their child. So in Valor's situation, his biological dad's a bad man, you know, in the story. But that was a concern of Jessica. She's like, I don't want it to come across as these people are bad. Yeah.

So everybody has a different adoption story. Just like, I mean, we didn't adopt AK, but we're still in his life. I don't know if everyone, we don't post about it. We keep all of that very private for various reasons. But, you know, we don't, one of the reasons is because we don't know who his dad is. And he doesn't know who his dad is. And so even though there is sin, people are broken, they make wrong decisions to bring a child into this world, this child, these children are wanted and loved and sacrificed for. And they're really beautiful stories.

They're hard. Yeah. They're difficult, but they're beautiful. So, Jayce, we watched Sound of Hope, which... I was thinking the same thing. Yeah, I was thinking because I would say the Arch is such a great movie, and they're doing ads, you know, so you'll hear us talking about on the podcast. But we just watched it yesterday, you and I both did.

And when Missy was saying that, I just thought about that was the one thing that came through so strongly through the movie was that people who make a decision to adopt. In their case, some of it was fostering that then led to adoption. but just like what you guys have done, it's not easy. And yet, the reward, you know, which comes across so well in the movie, is worth it in lives. You know, it's the payout is in lives. It's, you know, their future and what they're going to do. So it was powerful.

Yeah, I mean, I cried a few times just because I just talked to our daughter, Karina, who is an orphan girl from Nicaragua. Missy brought up, you know, our little boy that we get to, I guess I kind of think of us as Godparents, you know, because we made a godly decision that we believe that he's born from God. And, you know, we see him every other weekend, if not, you know, on the weekends. And even visit him on Father's Day, you know, because I thought, in his mind, I'm his father. I'm the only male in his life. And so it was an emotional movie. And I thought about that when you brought up, we were talking about suffering.

We were supposed to talk about suffering in the previous podcast. Oh, those were on my notes from Al. Yeah, once I got pulled over, suffering took a very young. Jason's suffering took precedence to that, Missing. Sometimes you bring suffering onto yourself. But I wanted to bring it up because even in the midst of Ephesians, you know, Paul is writing all this just spectacular stuff that excites you and makes you glad that you're in Jesus.

And then like in chapter 3 and verse 13, he says, don't be discouraged because of my sufferings for you. And then I found it interesting that in 3-1 and 4-1, he addresses that he's a prisoner for the Lord. I mean, he's in chains. He says that in 620. He says, I am an ambassador.

You know, just think about what he's saying. I'm an ambassador of Christ in chains. And suffering comes in various forms, but what's stuck out in that movie is when you take on these roles, there's just a lot of pain and suffering that happens in drama, and you have to deal with the pain that has already been inflicted on some kids before they're adopted or what have you. And that movie really captured that very well. It made me think, I don't know where I heard this line,

but somebody said, you know, it's easy to start a family. It's very difficult to keep it together. And that's where the work comes in. And, you know, when you just think about our world and our culture and the destruction of the family, you can't have a thriving culture when all the families are broken up in every direction because those kids need guidance. And so I don't know.

I just really reflected on that. I mean, when you think about the Google searches, the top three about God, I shared a while back, they were disheartening. I mean, I don't remember the order. Yeah, one of them was, why does God hate me? Who made God? Who made God? And why is there so much suffering? If there's a God, why is there so much suffering?

But what I wanted to say is, you know, there is a difference in suffering outside of Christ and suffering in Christ. And because he really, based on his love for us and what he did, you know, gives us the answers, even though they're still difficult to navigate in life. And I heard a really good illustration of that when you think about the way God chose to reveal himself. because we all think that God's so distant from the suffering because we think, well, here, Jesus is at the right hand of God. I mean, the whole book of Ephesians is about that while he's in change. He's writing this while he's locked up saying Jesus is enthroned. He is the true king and Lord.

And so we as humans say, well, it sure does it look like it. I mean, kids are dying, kids are being abused, these awful things that are happening. So we tend to think he's a million miles away. But I think when you really look at what Jesus did going to the cross force, that our God is not distant from suffering. He actually became a part of it. And then he told you over and over there's numerous texts in the New Testament about us suffering for Jesus. Actually as a positive thing. And they quoted that a lot of the movies.

Do you notice that? It was like looking at it as a joyous thing. that you're having to deal with these kids who have been abused. We're going to find joy and peace and we're going to have to do it together in order to do something to help them and give them love. I mean, it just, it was a reflection of what God did for us as families coming together in the name of the Lord doing it for broken children. This was a bishop at a church and his wife were kind of at the core of the story.

And it's funny because the movie itself is heavy and kind of like our movie was, you know, the blind. And so you kind of have to hang on to those two or three light moments. They've tried to lighten it up a little bit, you know. And because he's a preacher, I can appreciate this. One of them he said, she's questioned him and he said, you know, Solomon had a thousand wives. And I think the reason he did is maybe one of them would trust him a little bit. You know, it was just his little. Because he didn't want to do it.

Right. And when I tell people, they hear about our story. And look, numerous members of our family have adopted kids and fostered kids. Because we have that same vein that's captured in the movie. We're like, they're made by God. They should have love and have a chance to succeed. But when people come to me, I always say, now look, I mean, of all the things that has happened in our marriage, I would say,

taking in kids who are not our own is probably the most stressful. Oh, no, it is by far the most stressful. Even after 15 surgeries with Mia, taken on the situation with AK has been the most challenging thing we have ever done in our lives. Still today. People need to know that, which this woman in the movie was like, you know, I always kind of make fun of.

people when they say, God told me to do this, you know, because I'm like, well, did he audibly say that? But, you know, she just meant this is, this is what we need to do. And it was so funny that a lighter moment, because the preacher was like, well, basically Phil's line. He didn't speak to me. He didn't tell me. Because she said he spoke to me. And they never have a moment of clarity. And, you know, they start arguing and the stress begins, just like it did in our marriage, just of should we do this? but she recognized they were having a knock-down, drag-out argument over it, and it kind of hit her that she said, oh, he's been speaking to you. Because he was actually trying to agree with her.

But the stress of it all was making them. Well, another beautiful point that happened was, you know, she was so gung-ho in the early part and had to bring him along. But later in the film, when it gets really, really tough, then she's doubting, but then he steps him because now he's the one. So I love that tag team. It was so beautiful. So, Jay's, you know, you mentioned, I love that your idea about Godparent.

And that's attached to the Catholic Church, and there's some specifics, traditional stuff that we wouldn't, we'd say is different than this. But I want you to listen to what is the purpose of Godparents? the godparents purpose is to help help the child attain heaven that's the definition i thought is that not it i've been using that phrase to describe our relationship and when people ask me i've been i've been going through matthew 18 which the whole thing jesus devoted to children and people warning people against causing them to sin even saying that they have representation and the face of the father through angels, which is Matthew 1810. I mean, somebody's speaking on their behalf in the heavenly realms.

That's not in there by an accident. And then he uses the same illustration. He just changes the wording that he uses in Luke 15 on why he was with the tax collectors and sinners with the story of the lost sheep. But in this case, he does it view them as lost. He's just like, we don't want to lose any of them. And it's just fascinating to me. I'm like, God, the God above values children.

Jesus makes that perfectly clear. It is a theme in the gospel. To the point of he's looking at adults saying, you need to act more like them. But the hard part, too, is like whenever AK was born, I said this before on the podcast, I had multiple texts a week saying, oh, we would like to adopt this baby,

or we know somebody, the perfect couple. have the perfect over and over and over. And finally I just said, you know, he's he's not available. I mean, this, this baby, the most perfect, beautiful baby, and he never cried. What an easy decision to choose to adopt a baby like that. Well, now he's two. You know, I'm not getting those texts anymore. Like, where is he? Is he still available? Because two-year-old, that's a harder. That's a harder road to hoe. And, and he's challenging. and the mom's having some challenges, but she's so open-minded right now about learning.

It's so great. But the hard stuff is where it's harder for people. They don't want to step in and do that. But once you adopt a child, you've got to see it all the way through, you know. And so that the consistency and that commitment is what the- And then, of course, the movie portrayed that. These were teenagers who have been sexually assaulted

and all these terrible things. Wait till they get 13. Yeah. And then you say, okay. And, you know. And they've had a lot of bad things. So we just got a minute left. So by the time this airs, it'll be this coming weekend on the 30th.

You got a big event. Yes, Faith Family Freedom. Yeah, tell a little bit about it. So last year, I think we did this like three or four weeks in advance. Like, hey, I have a great idea, babe. Yeah. How about we open up Longtown Estate and invite everybody to come for free and celebrate our freedom in Christ, you know, on this weekend?

And so over a thousand people showed up. Right. And it was run really well. Kendall does a great job. We had a lot of volunteers from our church family. So I do want to say again that we are having it again. It is free of charge. Go to logtownestate.com.

We're asking people, just push that RSVP button. It's still free. But that way we kind of know how many are coming and we can better prepare. But Phil's going to be doing his class at 9 a.m. at White's Ferry Road. It actually moved you to a bigger room this year because last. Last year we overflowed, so we got him in a bigger room. Jason's preaching. I'm preaching.

Actually, I asked Perky last night if I could sing. So I think I might be singing that day, by the way. And then at 4 o'clock, if you get there before 4, you're just going to have to sit in your vehicle. But at 4 o'clock, the gates will open. Food trucks. We're going to have live entertainment this year. Brave Books is coming. You know, they do story hours all over the country.

Awesome. They're coming and doing story hours. Jeff and Jessica will read their book. I'm going to read mine again. They have face painting. crafts, we have games. Then still, what was the greatest thing last year, and we're doing it this year again, is the backyard Bible class. So starting at 430, at the top and bottom of every hour, a new speaker will come in and just give their testimony about Jesus. They're just going to preach

the gospel. 15, 20 minutes, we have an on-site baptismal tub there and people who will baptize you on the spot. So you can be baptized at that moment and not wait. We thought it might be better than going into the Washthaw River across the levee. Probably safer. No snakes. Maybe less. The river's not too.

That's June 30th. What was the website again? Logtownestate.com. All right. Check it out. We'll see you guys. We're excited about it. Missy, as always,

thank you for coming on. Absolutely. One of my favorite guests. So we'll see you next time on Unashamed. Thanks for listening to the Unashamed podcast. Help us out by rating us on iTunes. And don't miss an episode by subscribing on YouTube and be sure to click that little bell to get notified about new episodes. And for even more content that you won't get anywhere else, subscribe to blazed TV at blazedtv.com slash unashamed.